Chippewa Co. house unlivable after it's set on fire

Cadott (WQOW) - A house is unlivable after it was intentionally set on fire Tuesday morning.

The Cadott fire chief told News 18 the house is a group home and one of the residents purposely started a wood pile in the basement on fire.

Cadott Fire was assisted by Chippewa Fire District and the Boyd Fire Department around 6:20 Tuesday morning at the house on 50th Ave. in the town of Sigel, near Cadott.

News 18 asked Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk if the person could face charges for setting the fire. Kowalczyk said it was unlikely because of the person's mental state, and instead they would find the resident a different place to live.

The fire chief said this fire was particularly difficult to put out.

"It was about as far away from the front door as we could get, as far as getting into the house, down the basement steps, around the basement because it was in the back part of the basement," said Cadott Fire Chief Rick Sommerfeld. "That makes it a lot more difficult for firefighters, a lot of more dangerous for the firefighters. They can get disoriented when they get that far into the structure and things like that, you have to worry about losing your stairwell and that sort of thing."

Two fire fighters were treated for minor injuries. Nobody living at the house was injured.